Apparatus for treating hides.



J'. E. .VOREL.

APFARATUS F08 THEAHNG HiDES. APPLICATION mm) mm. a. 1912-.

Patented 32m. 22, 1918 QJMUWQQU? I after JOSEPH E. VOBEL, 0F MILWAUKEE,WISCONSIN.

APIPRATUS FOR TREATING HIDES.

Application filed March 6, 1917.

To all M'hCm it may concern:

. Be it known that l, Jenn-mi E. VoRnL, a citizen of the United States.and resident of Milwaukee, in the. county of Milwaukee and State of\Visrronsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inApparains for 'lreatinp; Hides; and I do hereby declare that; thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in treating hidesand skins of various kinds, it being the object. of the invention togreatly ii'nprove lhifpresent methods of tanning. dyeing and otherwisetreat ng raw materials of this character.

lVil'li the. systems now in use only a very sn'mll number of hides orskins can he treated at one time and in one roz-optacle, therefore it isnoi'ressary to' build a large number of these receptacles in order totan sliins in large quantities. The-so ordinary receptacles in Which theskins are at present treated, not only take up a considerable amount ofspace in the tannery. but it has also neon found that the. skins fromone IPClEl'llflPlO will be considerably different in tenth 11,-. orcoloring from those treated in other I(('(.Pl'2-ClQS.

My presmitinvention has been designed with the idea ol o'vvw'oniingthose diliiculand hy the use oi the ap mra'tns to be hereinafterdescribed. many tln'msands 'of skins may be treated in one tank. Inorder to rive each skin the same treatment uiloi'dm'l all of the.others. a novel means is provided for thm-onghly agitating the liquid inthe tank.

The invention resides in the novel features of (tonsil-notion.i-omhination and arrangement. of parts whichwill be hereinrnorepartivnlnrly described and claimed and shown in the accompanying;drawing, wherein Figure l is aplan View of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a (font-Pal vertical longitudinal section on the line 2---2 ofFig. 1.

Referring to the several figures of the drawing in rletail, it. will henot-ed that the numeral ldesignates the outer. wall of a tank ofsubstantially oval shape in plan 'vi =w,'2 being ant-elongatedsubstantially oval filling member having semi-circular nnds 3 Whioh isdisposed longitudinally and centrally of the tank as clearly shown inSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 22, 1918.

Serial No. 152,539.

Fig. 1. This arrangement forms a substan tially oval shaped. endlessehai'niel 4- adapted to contain suitable liquid for treating hides andskins which are to be placed therein.

The Wall 1 and the member 2 Well as the floor or bottom of the tank arepreferably formed of concrete. The [tank may be built in any desiredshape and in any preferred size. but it has been found that an ovalshaped tank, such as illustrated in the drawing will operate [0 the bestadvantage. The depth and length of the channel 4 de pends entirely uponthe number of skins or hides which are to he treated and the size of theplant in which the apparatus to be installed. In order for the apparatusto properly operate. however, .it is essential that the parts oi thechannel in each side of the filler member be substantially straight andof a length approximately equal to or greater than twice the width ofthe tank. If these sides are of less length the hides and skins willnot; travel through the end portions of the channel. because they willnot acquire snflicieiu' momentum from the agitating means to be laterdescribed. This Will obviously cause clogging of the channel at the endsthereof.

()ne mid of the tank is provided Withan inlet opening 5 While the otherend has an outlet opening 6, eaeh-beii'ig formed through the Wall 1adjacent its connection with the bottom 7. Each of the openings 5 and 6contains a casing from which projects outwardly a hollow nipple 8, thesame having a plurality of apertures 9 formed in its Wall while athreaded stud 10 projects from'its end. A, head 11 is disposed to rotateon each of the nipples 8 and has an annular passageway adapted tosurround the apertures 9, said assageway in the head. communioating withan. inlet or an outlet pipe as the case may be. The inlet pipe isdesignated by the numeral 12 and the outlet pipe, which is in the formofa short pipe section, bears the numeral. 13. After the heads have beenplaced upon their nipples and nuts 14 threaded on the studs 1.0, thesame will behold in operative position thereon,-

they being designed to rotate to osition the-pipes 12 and 13 at any angewith respect to the horizontal.

As a result: of this eonstruetioma continu:

quantities.

taining it in this position the height of the.

liquid in the tank may be readily regulated. For instance, if the liquidis to be raised nearly to the top of the tank, the pipe section 13 isdisposed substantially vertical with its open end upward, but ifthe-liquid is to be drained oil, said pipe section is placed as shown inFig.

As heretofore mentioned, the tank may be utilized for treating the hidesand skins in any one of the various methods common to those skilled inthe art for the purpose of tanning the same, and it may also he used fordyeing or otlmrwise coloring the hides and skins before or after theyhave been otherwise treated In the latter case the coloring matter maybe added to the liquid contained in. the tank from either one or both ofthe small mixing chambers 1.5, one of which is formed in each end of thememher 2 and has avalve 16 to regulate the quantity of liquid flowingtherefrom These chambers may he used to mix the coloring matter beforeit is applied to the liquid in which the hides are to beplaced, and inthis manner it is more evenly distributed.

The agitating means which will presently be described further serves tothoroughly mix the coloring matter with the liquid, inthe tank Thesechambers 15 may be used for storing any other kinds of materia which isto be The above mentioned agitating means in the resent instanceconsists of a pair of re- 'volving paddle wheels 17, one of which isdisposed on side of the member 2 adjacent the ends thereof and has itsblades disposed in the channel 4- thus disposing the wheels on oppositesides of a vertical plane passing transversely through the cen ter ofthe tank. wheels causes and the skins immediately after the same haspassed around the curved ends of the This disposition of the channel andalso permits said fluid to have a relatively long sweep through thestraight portions of said channel to prevent clo ging of the skins atthe ends of the tani. Although but two paddle Wheels have beenillustrated it is obvious that more or less of them may be used,depending upon the size of the tank and the length of the channelthereof. 'Each paddle wheel is preferably as shown in the consists of ashaft 18 journaled in bearings 19 carried-respectively bydzhe wall themto act upon the fluid added to the tanlfiil small I centrally disposedfiller ,membe' 1. and member 2, and a plurality of radially extendingarms 20 which carry blades 21.

The outer end oi. each shaft 18 has a sprocket or other form of gearwheel 22 fixed thereto, and adapted to have a s Jrockel; chain or otherconnection 23 trains therearound, said. chains connecting the wheels 22with similar Wheels 24 mounted on the ooposite end of each. of a pair ofparallel s mile 25. The latter shafts are journaled in the upper ends ofstandards 26 carried by the wall 1. These shafts 25 are con ncctedtogether by a pair of pinicnsj'i and one of them has a pulley 28 fixedthereto, to which power from a suitable source mu" be applied by a belt29. It will be seen hat when the pulley 28 is rotated, wheels 17 will berotated in opposite direo .tions so that the liquid contained in thetank will continuously flow in one direction therethrough long as the"wheels continue to revolve. The skins contained in the liquid willalways be moved therewith unless they are secured to the sides or? thetank. litter the hides, or skins have been sufiiciently treated they areready to he removed from the tank and in order to facilitate theirremoval a gate 30 has been provided against which they will contact asthey are moved through. the channel by the paddle wheels. permit theliquid to pass therethrough and to prevent the hides or skins frompassing therebeyond. In this manner all. of the skins or hides may becollected at one end the paddle The gate 30 is slotted to of the tankand removed therefrom onto a I roducedl I e aim: 1 l a An apparatus oftheclass described, com prising a stationary liquid containing tankhaving its ends rou ded, vthe len' 11' fof said tank on each sideofits'ceh er being greater than its width, a'l longitu nally extendingwill be of much better quality t an those positioned in the tankto forman endless channel; the 1 filler member being approximatelyistraight,

channel bein the width-o the, tank, and meansfor causing a continuousHow of fluid in. one directio'n through said channel, said meansinportion of the same on eachsid'; of said i 1' in each approximatelystraight pgirtmrlof the f of a length substantially twice eluding arevoluble agitating member distiveljr long, sweep through the straightPor- 1'0 posed in eech'streight portion ofthe chantions of said channel,and means for rotetnel, said agitating members being adjacent insaiditgitating members. the opposite ends of the filler member and ntestimony that I claim the f9reg0ing I 5 on opposite sidestof a verticalplene. passing have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee, in I trmlsverselythrough the center ofthetank, the county of Milwaukee and State of Wis-15 whereby to actuatef'the fluid immediately c'onsin. t I t after havingpassed around the curved ends i of the channel and to give the same arela- JOSEPH E. VOREL.

